CANNIBAL FEROX(1981)
(Directed by Umberto Lenzi)
"They make this movie get over slowly"- Signed by MartialHorror
Plot: A college student, her adventurer brother and her slutty friend set out into the jungle to disprove cannibalism by proving that this one cannibalistic village does not exist….What do you think happens? Also known as “Make Them Die Slowly”.
Review:
Throughout the late 70’s and early 80’s, there was a Cannibal craze. These cannibals weren’t like Hannibal Lector or anything. They were more like Mondo Cane films, with lots of cannibals. You could always expect the same things out of them: Lots of gore, tits, rape, animal cruelty, primitive and violent tribes, douchebag city slickers and laughable social commentary. Roger Ebert would piss his pants if he saw one. In 1980, the most notorious of these films would be released: “Cannibal Holocaust”. Artfully directed, photographed and scored, “Cannibal Holocaust” was still the same shit that we’ve seen before. It just happened to be more vile, more sleazy, and superior to its subgenre brothers. I didn’t like the movie, but a lot of people did. The film’s social commentary basically stressed that civilization is worse than the more primitive tribes. Interesting stuff, but it was ruined by it’s final “I wonder who really are the cannibals” line. Director Ruggero Deodato wanted his film to show the world that the primitive tribes were the victims of civilizations brutality, leading them to violence as well.
It did what no cannibal movie had done at its time: It worked, although in a different way than expected.
You see, the protagonists in that film were filmmakers. They took a sadistic glee on killing animals for no reason other than to shock, they exploited the poor tribes for their own perversions, claimed their actions had a reasoning and were all around repulsive....Just like the Cannibal films! People ignored Deodato’s message, and saw this as the real message. Except they didn’t look suspiciously at civilization, they began to look suspiciously at Cannibal films. They realized how detestable the subgenre was, and it began to die out. Ironically, “Cannibal Holocaust” would make the most money, despite being the film to kill the genre. Oh, if only I could believe that Deodato intentionally used that commentary! Then I might like the film. Unfortunately, by including his own animal killings, I am left to believe that it was completely unintentional. Enter Umberto Lenzi’s “Cannibal Ferox”, which is the only other Cannibal film that people really remember…..Maybe it’s because it is a blatant rip-off of Deodato’s film, maybe it’s because Lenzi was a fairly prolific director as well……Maybe it’s the 2nd best of its kind….If that is the case, then I don’t want to watch any more cannibal films.
“Cannibal Ferox” begins with some funky out-of-place score playing over New York City…..What is with Cannibal films and funky out-of-place scores. It sounds so goofy! Some junkie is looking for a guy named Mike(Giovanni Radice). He goes into Mike’s apartment, asking aloud: “Mike, Mike, where are you”. He is suddenly ambushed by two of the most idiotic, brutish thugs you will ever see. They demand to know where Mike is, even though they had to have heard this poor guy wondering where Mike is as well. Later on, they do the same thing to some girl. As soon as she sees them, she demands to know where Mike is. They then demand to know right back. Annoyingly, these bastards don’t die throughout the whole movie. Apparently Mike ripped off a bunch of money from them, and- Wait, where are the cannibals again?
As soon as we ask that question, we are introduced to our bastard characters. They include Gloria(Lorraine De Selle), who is searching for this supposed Cannibal tribe. She wants to prove that they don’t exist, and that somehow means that cannibalism itself doesn’t exist……..Wait, what? Ummmm, okay……She is traveling with her brother Rudy(Dunilo Mattei), who is technically the group leader. For some reason, they brought her slutty friend Pat(Zora Kerova) along for the ride. As they travel, they come across Mike and his wounded friend. Apparently they were attacked by cannibals.
Soon, however, it becomes apparent that Mike is very unstable and probably is the cause of the cannibals being…..cannibals(the logic in this movie is hilarious)….In the end, Mike and Gloria are going to have to fight off the cannibals as well as fight off Mike….But soon, they are all captured and the cannibals begin to make them die slowly……Oh, have I mentioned that an alternate title is “Make Them Die Slowly”?
A village of cannibals can build a whole cannibal city in the narrative gaps of “Cannibal Ferox”. The film feels like two different movies, spliced into one. On one hand, you have the cops and mob guys trying to find Mike, but this doesn’t really go anywhere…..Plus, it’s pretty boring. Then you have the Cannibal scenes, which occasionally work….but lacks a proper structure.
The film takes too long to get going, and suddenly ends just when you think it’s ready to kick some ass. It takes too long to get to the cannibals, then we wait some more as the cannibals must come to them, then the cannibals just torture people. I don’t want to call the film boring, but it isn’t very interesting. Then what the hell was with the ending? It made no freaking sense!
But worst of all, I hated the characters, and the acting didn’t help. Lorraine De Selle(Gloria) is a limited actress with some poor dubbing, so I might forgive her. The character? Not so much. Besides her idiotic thesis, she comes across as smug and insensitive. Zora Kerova actually does a good job as Pat, showing some nice range. But the character is one of those typical banshee characters who cries and screams a lot…I wanted to kill her myself. At first, I kind of liked Rudy. Dunilo Mattei does a passable job, but the character lost me when he decided to stay at the Cannibal Camp.
Oh yeah, how can I forget about the fact that despite hearing that the cannibals castrated some dude and hate his genitals, they decide to make camp IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR VILLAGE. It’s sad when the psychopath, Mike, is the most reasonable of the bunch. Anyway, back to the characters and acting...
Giovanni Radice was also in “City of the Living Dead” and “House by the Edge of the Park”, where he also played crazy characters. But this is his most focused, intense performance. Oddly, the only character who deserved my sympathy was his bland friend…..I hate movies when blandness is the only positive thing about any of the characters……
“Cannibal Ferox” sucks…….I hear that Umberto Lenzi is actually a very good director, but the films he’s more famous for are this and “Nightmare City”, two of his worst films(apparently). How the hell does that happen? Still, it has all the typical Cannibal subgenre staples, including some vicious and inventive gore. I will give it this: It’s unpredictable. But it still sucks……
Violence: Rated X worthy. Castrations, being hung by the tits(don’t ask), and a Piranha attack stick out, but there is more!
Nudity: A fair amount. These cannibal films know how to turn us off when it comes to nudity…..
Overall: If you like those Cannibal films, then check out “Cannibal Ferox”, even though it certainly isn’t good. It's all sleaze, but I'm not a fan of this subgenre so it does nothing for me.
1.5/4 Stars